☾ Myung.Soo ☽

Waiting is boring.

Waiting for something that you have expected to happen is boring.

For more than two hundred of years I have been living on as a Shadow, boredom is something that I have befriended with but it's definitely not my most favorite friend.

Just like him who pays a visit for me today.

"Oh, if it's not L, our almighty Lord of Shades," a voice gains my attention, diverting my gaze from the crowded road to him.

Jay walks to me -- or levitates actually -- on the air. His hands are behind his back while a sly smile decorates his face, "Rumors are  talking about you and this special girl lately, eh?"

He is older than he looks, just like all Shadows are. Jay is much older than I am even though it doesn't look that way. Actually no one can ever guess how old a Shadow is; by this, I'm talking about how many years a Shadow has been through.

A Shadow is not limited to age nor experience. It's all just about people who deny their lives are over, who throws the thought of death is the only thing that awaits them.

I once met a very young-looking Shade. He didn't look more than eight years old. With blonde hair and a lollipop in his hand, I saw him standing in front of a middle-aged woman who was crying her heart out, begging for mercy in front of a mirror.

Humans speak about ghosts, their term to describe the unknown spirit roaming around them but, for who live in Erebus, of course there are no such things as ghosts.

This world only consists of light and dark, living creatures and the deaths, humans and shadows. That's all.

That's why I was interested with the young boy. I had met several older Shades but he's the first young one I encountered.

He's a Shade, not just an ordinary Shadow. I learned that the woman who cried in front of him is his stepmother later on. He took over the woman's body two weeks after that.

Then he made the life ended for both of them: he jumped off the building where they used to live together before.

It's non sense, humans will say. However, for Shadows, nothing ever makes sense.

"Words spread fast, don't they?" I smirk, not feeling intimidated by him at all. "I see that you're doing fine, Jay."

Jay is strong. I admit that he is a strong Shade, combining with all those years leading to centuries he has lived on, he is definitely considered as one of the strongest Shades.

Similar to me, Jay is already strong enough up to the state where he doesn't need an Individu to exist. That's why both of us can be everywhere, like now, even during daytime.

He is not my favorite though. Unlike Doojoon whom I will not mind to talk about my target or Yoseob whom has been my favorite Shadow to play with, Jay is out of my likeable zone.

I remember it was around ninety years after I became a Shadow, clinging over a male Individu who worked as an artist. He had quite strong conscience and I found myself got tangled with attacks of other Shades.

I won over all of them. It was not that easy because, once in a while, random Shades managed to take over my Individu when he was wavered with emotion.

An Individu's unstable emotion is the key for a Shade to steal his existence. It's also his own Shadow's power. The stronger an Individu's conscience, the stronger his Shadow's power will be.

And the more delightful it will be for Shade to have it.

Having my Individu under the control of other Shades happened since I was still new to everything, but I quickly learned how to control my own power and it's exciting.

It's boring to just watch your Individu living his life and you just move around when he's unconscious. The whole taking over the light business is definitely more exciting.

Apparently the artist lost control over his own self slowly. His night time was questionable as Shades kept trying to take over his light repeatedly. It must be too much for him that he even cut off a part of his ear^[9] the night before I met the young Shade.

I assume it's because of all the voices he was able to hear but no others could, the voices of Shades who tried to take his light. I believed it drove him to the edge of sanity already.

Jay and I came across each other around that time.

In Erebus, Shadows know him as one of the most legendary and infamous Shades for winning over so many Individus. However humans know his other name when he took the light of his not-so-innocent Individu.

Jack The Ripper.^[10]

"How is she doing then?" Jay chuckles, locking his eyes on the other side of the building where we stand on. "Are you planning to take over her light soon?"

I heard Shadows mention me as a heartless Shade, but I wonder what they will call Jay as. He will not rush doing his work. He plans everything as long as he enjoys it.

He loves to play the game where his Individu will go insane. He will not take over the light forever. He'll take it, let it go, and take it over again just to return it back to them. It keeps repeating until he gets bored with it.

Exactly why Jack the Ripper walked around for quite a while a century ago.

"I'll play nice," I follow where his gaze lands on. "Having a question like that... I hope you're not planning to have her too."

Jay laughs, sounds amused, "Do you feel threatened, L? That we probably have to kill each other for her?"

Kill. How can a Shadow be kill when we're already dead?

A Shadow needs an Individu. If they lose their lights, the ones that keep their existence as darkness, they'll disappear.

The same goes if the Shadow leaves his Individu at night and doesn't manage to return before the time, when the Individu gains back his consciousness. Either the human dies immediately for no reason -- I believe it's what people mention as sudden unexpected death syndrome^[11] -- or the Individu manage to live for a while before loses his mind.

But to kill Shadows? Shadow is not killed. They just simply disappear to nowhere.

And I don't have the plan to vanish yet. Not until I get what I want.

"You can play your own game, Jay," I grin widely because the person I have been expecting has arrived at her destination. "I have my own game to play."

When I am going to jump off the building, moving to meet the girl who will be my pawn in this new game, Jay calls me.

"Hey, L," he raises his eyebrow, smiling. "I'm sorry. I ask you a wrong question."

"It's not how she's doing. I'm supposed to ask how he is doing," Jay approaches me, levitating. "You don't care about that girl, do you? The game you're playing... Your real target is her Shadow."

He knows but it doesn't change a thing. I scoff, "Good thing you know."

I turn my back to him and head to where the young girl is waiting. She sits on a sofa, checking her phone to wait for a call. A call that will never reach her.

Standing two meters in front of her, my grin becomes even wider. I snap my fingers, creating the Erebus where there are only me, her, and her Shadow.

It's time to play the game seriously.

[9] Referring to the event on Dec 23rd, 1888, where Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, suffering from sever depression, cut off his own ear.
[10]  The best known name given to an unidentified serial killer active in the district of London in 1888.
[11] Also known as Sudden Adult Death Syndrom, a sudden unexpected death of adolescents and adults, often during sleep.

Hereby  also I want to apologize to all readers of this story for not updating this title since 14 August 2013.
I am so sorry but, believe me, I love this story so much that I will definitely finish it, no matter what; it's just this story needs more time.

Do bother to drop your comments below or tweet me at @AFFkyuri91. Thank you. :)